Which of the following are you most likely to be blackmailed for?

Someone who will not be blackmailed, cannot be blackmailed.
I am inordinately pleased at blackmail's etymologically tortuous route into the english language.

No to almost all - it's not that I'm a puritan (quite the opposite really), it's just that I openly admit my failings.

I don't think I have any secrets that I could be blackmailed with.

I checked "sexual perversion" even though I don't think it's perversion, but enough of society does that it could make my life difficult. What about Drug use that isn't abuse?

None of the above. Though my life hasn't been entirely above-board in respect to societal norms, and I think some of my past behaviors were shameful, I accept responsibility for what I've done and therefore can't be blackmailed for it. Good survey!

I've been having some feelings lately, like I'm becoming more and more attracted to other women. It's not something I think is perverted, or something that I'm exactly ashamed of, but also it isn't something I'd want people to know about. (Except you guys obviously, since I'm basically anonymous here.)

I started to check "Matrimonial Irregularities," since if I were seeking a public office, the state of my matrimony would be considered irregular, and an issue (great phrase, btw) but I realized that while there are circumstances in which I am not "out" or "open" about my relationships, I think over time I will be more so, not less, and if a situation came up in which someone tried to blackmail me for it, I would just let them out me and deal with the consequences. I wonder, though, what would happen if one of my sweeties were up for a promotion in their splefty high-profile companies, and someone came to me and said that he or she could keep the promotion from going through by talking about the nature of our relationships to the appropriate authorities in my sweetie's company, or to the press? I would, of course, then ask the sweetie about his preference on the matter, since it would no longer be simply my consequences and my dealing that would be the issue.

Pandora...Think again...there is no anonymity...ever....You can always be traced if someone wants to know badly enough...take it from me...I found this out the hard way...You might as well be standing out on the street corner shouting all this to the world....that's about as anonymous as any of this net stuff gets....that's why I never use the anonymous feature here....and why from now on I'll never say a word I wouldn't want the whole world to see or hear.....

I have never done anything which I wouldn't be willing to let everyone in the world know about. If you keep no secrets then blackmail is not an issue.

mandy, I find your attitude toward anonymity extreme and narrow-minded. While, it's true that ultimately throughout our society if someone really wants to know who you are they can find out. It's also true that in general they don't and most people do remain anonymous. It really is quite different from shouting on a street corner.

Also, since many users on SC have brought friends along that know each other in-person in the real world, there is more reason for them to desire some anonymity from time to time.

For all intents and purposes Pandora is anonymous in this forum. Many of us have gotten to know her in some limited fashion, but if she never came back, that would be the end of it.

I think her statement about her changing sexuality shows how important anonymity can be. It allows us to try out new ideas and thoughts in a safe place. By saying she's attracted to other women, she gets a chance to explore those feelings with little risk. Perhaps later, she'll realize those feelings were just a passing phase and she'll be glad she didn't express them in real life (where she might have been quickly labelled) or perhaps she'll be able to use this forum and other anonymous forums to explore those feelings and find strength in them. Strength to face the real-world and its labels.

Anonymity can be a powerful tool.

This forum offers us all a chance to play around a little with our identities, our ideas, and our words. Why squander it by taking a hard line against anonymity? Why not have some fun with it?

I take a hard line against anonymity for myself personally......I just felt she needed to be told that online ...you can establish a false sense of security...and that there are people who can trace you and find out anything they want about you(this has happened to me)...I never post anonymous comments and that is my choice...I abhor others who abuse anonymous postings to insult others or anonymous survey creating to insult and dig at other users...I believe the feature of anonymous commenting and survey creating is needed in instances when users want to legitimately comment about surveys without revealing their handle...or create legitimate surveys and protect who they are....I am curious as to why you chose to call me extreme and narrow minded under an anonymous handle?Nothing else in your comment warranted you hiding....You stated your opinion calmly and I respect that.... and you could have done that and shown yourself...but you didn't...not because your comment revealed anything personal that you wished to keep private ....but because it contained a personal insult towards me which you haven't the courage to stand behind....

mandy, I entered my previous comment anonymously because I felt like it. I thought it was appropriate given what I was talking about. It was part of the point I was making. It had nothing to do with my "narrow-minded" comment. Also, I was careful to not call you narrow-minded, I said your attitude is narrow-minded. Thus, my intention was for that statement to not be personal.

I think this interaction shows an inherent unfairness in your reaction toward anonymous statements. I believe that you are treating anonymous commenters unfairly.

Why do I need a warrant to use the anonymous feature? I tried to make this point in my last comment. There are many good reasons to using anonymity. I have my own reasons for being anonymous. I am using it to be free of my usual persona. My handle has too much baggage associated with it. I need a little wiggle room.

Why wont you accept me?

none

You have a right to do and say whatever you choose here with or without your usual handle. It is not my place to accept you or reject you...anonymous user....

It just isn't the kind of thing I would do myself......I thought I made that clear

and people who hide behind anonymous to insult, ridicule, snipe and dig will still, in my eyes, be cowardly. If this seems an extreme or narrow-minded attitude to you...then so be it. It is my opinion and I stand proudly behind it...handle attached!

Twister--You said that you were going to stop getting me involved in these disputes. Alas, to my knowledge we have never been attached...:)

*tickles Handle under the chin* I can't help it sweetie! You just seem to keep popping up *grins*

mandy + anonymous, you can now filter the comments of other SC users including those made by anonymous. I just added this feature. ...also, you can filter surveys made by a specific user.

Thanx bill...That's a great idea....although I am confused. There are legitimate anonymous users that I wouldn't want to block. How would that work? Would it block all anonymous comments and anonymously created surveys?

Is filter the same as block?

I have nothing to hide.

I haven't done anything all that heinous, but if someone did try to blackmail me, I'd call up my friend Jerry, who's the CEO of a private investigations firm, and have him dig up some dirt on whoever was trying to blackmail me, so I could threaten them back

I might do a number of these, and I might try to hide them if I did them, but I can't see myself giving someone else power over me in order to continue to hide them. So none of these..

I might feel scared and uncomfortable if I were blackmailed for anything I have done in the past BUT....I know my reaction would be to be honest about my actions to the appropriate parties and take away the blackmailer's power to manipulate me in any way.

why "other" but no "nothing"? I guess I have to be "other" for wearing my heart on my sleeve.

I forgot nothing. I also meant to include actions performed during time of war.

I can imagine wanting to hide something, but I'd never pay someone to keep a secret.

you have a matrimonial option..but what about affairs?

that's not true...i saw they scratching her ass the other day...and i'm gonna blackmail her...;)

Wow, what a great phrase.

mandy: I strongly suspect that anonymous is bill. If so, then he had a very good reason for using the anonymous feature: to tell you, constructively, that he thought you were being narrow-minded without making you feel unwelcome on survey central.

Whatever...phi...If it was bill...which I highly doubt, but then, we'll never know, I would not have felt unwelcome here because he disagreed with my opinion on the false sense of security people have when it comes to anonymity on the web. I stand by my opinion. I do not feel it is narrow minded. I have had actual experiences that lead me to believe it is dangerous to think the internet is a place where you can safely be anonymous. That is what I was trying to tell pandora.

Phi ...but if anonymous was me, then you just compromised my anonymity. ...and if it was not me, then you just cast me under suspicion.
Either way it seems inconsistent to say that you think I have good reason to use anonymous while at the same time telling everyone that you think it's me doing it.